scholarly journals The Life Cycle of Biodegradable and Compostable Packaging from the Perspective of Developing a Sustainable Bioeconomy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Iuliana Paraschiv (Ganea) ◽  
◽  
Stefania-Rodica Hubel (Angel) ◽  
Elena Condrea ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Life Cycle Stage ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Decomposition Time ◽  
Environmental Performance Assessment ◽  
The Impact

This paper aims to present a study linked with the evaluation of the life cycle of both biodegradable and compostable packaging focusing on the impact these have upon the environment, regardless of the life-cycle stage, actually looking at it as a whole. In this article, the evaluation process will focus on the final stage of the product's life - decommissioning and reintegration into the environment. At present, in order for products to be approved by consumers, who are increasingly selective about health and environmental protection, they need to send an appropriate message. The message for consumers can take different forms, being informed about: rational use of resources in the production process, economical and sustainable packaging, attestation of the quality of the product in question, the fact that they are sustainable (compared to similar products in trade). The explosive development of design technologies and software allows the identification of design solutions that lead to the optimization of the project in a new, clean, environmentally friendly formula. Eco-design must ensure technical and aesthetic accuracy, while identifying the optimal shape depending on the chosen material. Consumers are particularly concerned about its persistence in the environment, due to the decomposition time of 100 to 400 years (Zins Beauchesne et al., 2008), its non-renewable fossil resources and the amount of waste allocated to it. The presence of dispersed plastics in nature associated with their persistence in the environment causes major impacts on terrestrial and marine ecosystems (Allsopp et al., 2006). In this context, the objectives of this article are risk assessment, environmental performance assessment, environmental impact assessment and identification of possible changes in each phase of the life cycle of both biodegradable as well as compostable packaging, which in turn may be the originator source of environmental benefits.

Environmental Quality of Impact Drills

2018 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Hricová ◽  
Ervin Lumnitzer
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Technical Parameters ◽  
Production Stage ◽  
The Impact

AbstractEnvironmental performance of each product is defined already at the stage of its design - in its pre-production stage. Environmental quality of the product is one of the most important factors of environmental performance of a product. Environmental quality includes a range of criteria that indicate the nature of the product and its environmental impact throughout its life cycle. The comparative analysis method is one of the ways to assess the environmental quality of the product. The article gives a specific example of the assessments carried out on the impact drills (of one specific brand) with different technical parameters.

scholarly journals Impact of Service Life on the Environmental Performance of Buildings

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahana Janjua ◽  
Prabir Sarker ◽  
Wahidul Biswas
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Service Life ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Cumulative Energy ◽  
Cumulative Energy Demand ◽  
Building Components ◽  
Environmental Performance Assessment ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
The Impact

The environmental performance assessment of the building and construction sector has been in discussion due to the increasing demand of facilities and its impact on the environment. The life cycle studies carried out over the last decade have mostly used an approximate life span of a building without considering the building component replacement requirements and their service life. This limitation results in unreliable outcomes and a huge volume of materials going to landfill. This study was performed to develop a relationship between the service life of a building and building components, and their impact on environmental performance. Twelve building combinations were modelled by considering two types of roof frames, two types of wall and three types of footings. A reference building of a 50-year service life was used in comparisons. Firstly, the service life of the building and building components and the replacement intervals of building components during active service life were estimated. The environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA) was carried out for all the buildings and results are presented on a yearly basis in order to study the impact of service life. The region-specific impact categories of cumulative energy demand, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and land use are used to assess the environmental performance of buildings. The analysis shows that the environmental performance of buildings is affected by the service life of a building and the replacement intervals of building components.

scholarly journals Modelling Sustainable Industrial Symbiosis

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1172
Author(s):  
Hafiz Haq ◽  
Petri Välisuo ◽  
Seppo Niemi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Industrial Symbiosis ◽  
Comprehensive Model ◽  
Network Connections

Industrial symbiosis networks conventionally provide economic and environmental benefits to participating industries. However, most studies have failed to quantify waste management solutions and identify network connections in addition to methodological variation of assessments. This study provides a comprehensive model to conduct sustainable study of industrial symbiosis, which includes identification of network connections, life cycle assessment of materials, economic assessment, and environmental performance using standard guidelines from the literature. Additionally, a case study of industrial symbiosis network from Sodankylä region of Finland is implemented. Results projected an estimated life cycle cost of €115.20 million. The symbiotic environment would save €6.42 million in waste management cost to the business participants in addition to the projected environmental impact of 0.95 million tonne of CO2, 339.80 tonne of CH4, and 18.20 tonne of N2O. The potential of further cost saving with presented optimal assessment in the current architecture is forecast at €0.63 million every year.

scholarly journals A study of the impact of information disclosure quality on the efficiency of corporate investment—Based on civil engineering listed companies

2020 ◽  
Vol 198 ◽  
pp. 03032
Author(s):  
Liying Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Investment Efficiency ◽  
Disclosure Quality ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Life Cycle Stages ◽  
Quality Disclosure ◽  
The Impact

Most of the existing studies on the impact of disclosure quality of listed companies on the investment efficiency of enterprises are based on the static level, and the article investigates the evolution of disclosure quality on the investment efficiency of enterprises from the dynamic level by dividing the life cycle of enterprises. Taking the data of Shenzhen civil engineering companies from 2013-2017 as the research sample, it uses multiple regression analysis to empirically test the impact of disclosure quality of listed companies on the investment efficiency of enterprises at different life cycle stages. The results show that when no distinction is made between life cycle stages, high quality disclosure can significantly inhibit the inefficient investment behavior of firms; in the growth and maturity samples, high quality disclosure can significantly inhibit underinvestment and overinvestment; in the recessionary samples, high quality disclosure can significantly inhibit underinvestment and has no significant effect on overinvestment.

scholarly journals Analysis of environmental impacts of combustion products of some pyrotechnic compositions

2019 ◽  
pp. 123-132
Author(s):  
Bożena Kukfisz ◽  
Jakub Rakus ◽  
Robert Piec
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Combustion Products ◽  
Rocket Engines ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
Gas Products ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Pyrotechnic Mixtures ◽  
Quality Of Products ◽  
The Impact

The study examined mixtures obtained from ready pyrotechnic articles available on the market in Poland. Samples were taken from various products with different performance characteristics, i.e. pyrotechnic batteries, firecrackers, volcanoes, as well as smoke candles, rockets (including rocket engines), and cold fires. These are the product categories most frequently used by users. The research allowed to determine gaseous combustion products and showed their life cycle in the environment. A comparative analysis of selected pyrotechnic mixtures was carried out in terms of their impact on the climate change of gas products. Using the ICT-Thermodynamic Code program, gaseous combustion products were estimated and the life cycle was analysed using the SimaPro program. Determining the impact on the environment (upon the basis of Ecoindicator 99) allowed to know the scale of the problem and set the direction of development of the pyrotechnic industry, so that importers could compete not only with the price and quality of products offered, but also tried to reduce the potential impact on the environment.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Maize-Germ Oil Production and The Use of Bioenergy to Mitigate Environmental Impacts: A Gate-To-Gate Case Study

Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattias Gaglio ◽  
Elena Tamburini ◽  
Francesco Lucchesi ◽  
Vassilis Aschonitis ◽  
Anna Atti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Industrial Processing ◽  
The Impact

The need to reduce the environmental impacts of the food industry is increasing together with the dramatic increment of global food demand. Circulation strategies such as the exploitation of self-produced renewable energy sources can improve ecological performances of industrial processes. However, evidence is needed to demonstrate and characterize such environmental benefits. This study assessed the environmental performances of industrial processing of maize edible oil, whose energy provision is guaranteed by residues biomasses. A gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was applied for a large-size factory of Northern Italy to describe: (i) the environmental impacts related to industrial processing and (ii) the contribution of residue-based bioenergy to their mitigation, through the comparison with a reference system based on conventional energy. The results showed that oil refinement is the most impacting phase for almost all the considered impact categories. The use of residue-based bioenergy was found to drastically reduce the emissions for all the impact categories. Moreover, Cumulative Energy Demand analysis revealed that the use of biomass residues increased energy efficiency through a reduction of the total energy demand of the industrial process. The study demonstrates that the exploitation of residue-based bioenergy can be a sustainable solution to improve environmental performances of the food industry, while supporting circular economy.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Valuation of Biochar Production: Two Case Studies in Belgium

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Rajabi Hamedani ◽  
Tom Kuppens ◽  
Robert Malina ◽  
Enrico Bocci ◽  
Andrea Colantoni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Pig Manure ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Life Cycle Perspective ◽  
The Impact

It is unclear whether the production of biochar is economically feasible. As a consequence, firms do not often invest in biochar production plants. However, biochar production and application might be desirable from a societal perspective as it might entail net environmental benefits. Hence, the aim of this work has been to assess and monetize the environmental impacts of biochar production systems so that the environmental aspects can be integrated with the economic and social ones later on to quantify the total return for society. Therefore, a life cycle analysis (LCA) has been performed for two potential biochar production systems in Belgium based on two different feedstocks: (i) willow and (ii) pig manure. First, the environmental impacts of the two biochar production systems are assessed from a life cycle perspective, assuming one ton of biochar as the functional unit. Therefore, LCA using SimaPro software has been performed both on the midpoint and endpoint level. Biochar production from willow achieves better results compared to biochar from pig manure for all environmental impact categories considered. In a second step, monetary valuation has been applied to the LCA results in order to weigh environmental benefits against environmental costs using the Ecotax, Ecovalue, and Stepwise approach. Consequently, sensitivity analysis investigates the impact of variation in NPK savings and byproducts of the biochar production process on monetized life cycle assessment results. As a result, it is suggested that biochar production from willow is preferred to biochar production from pig manure from an environmental point of view. In future research, those monetized environmental impacts will be integrated within existing techno-economic models that calculate the financial viability from an investor’s point of view, so that the total return for society can be quantified and the preferred biochar production system from a societal point of view can be identified.

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